Charity Navigator - Rating for Special Love Inc.

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501(c)(3) organization

Donations are tax-deductible

www.speciallove.org

158 FRONT ROYAL PIKE STE 311
Winchester VA 22602-4324

Winchester VA | IRS ruling year: 1983 | EIN: 54-1218130

TO PROVIDE ENRICHING ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER.

Rating Information

Great

This charity's score is 100%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.

This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores: 85% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability, 5% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.

Beacon Weights

Historical Ratings

Important note on the timeliness of ratings

The IRS is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits' annual tax filings (Forms 990). As a result, the Accountability & Finance score for Special Love Inc. is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations. Please check with the charity directly for any questions you may have.

Rating Report

Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability

Impact & ResultsAccountability & FinanceCulture & CommunityLeadership & Adaptability

Accountability & Finance

Special Love Inc. has earned a 100% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.

This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.

This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2020, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.

Learn more

Accountability and Transparency

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Not Applicable

Board Composition - 19/19 - 25/25 pts

Independent Audit or Financial Review - Audited - 20/20 pts

Total Revenue Amount	Expectation to Receive Credit
$1 million or higher	Expected to complete an audit
$500,000 - $1 million	Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation
Less than $500,000	No expectation (removed from scoring methodology)

Conflict of Interest Policy - Listed - 3/3 pts

Board Meeting Minutes - Documented - 3/3 pts

Document Retention and Destruction - Listed - 3/3 pts

Whistleblower Policy - Listed - 3/3 pts

Website - Listed - 3/3 pts

Financial Metrics

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Not Applicable

Liabilities to Assets Ratio - 4.23% - 15/15 pts

Liabilities to Assets Ratio	Amount of Credit Received
Less than 50%	Full Credit
50% - 59.9%	Partial Credit
60% or more	No Credit

Program Expense Ratio - 73.45% - 25/25 pts

Program Expense Percentage	Amount of Credit Received
70% or higher	Full Credit
60% - 69.9%	Partial Credit
50% - 59.9%	Zero Points for Program Expense Score
Below 50%	Zero Points for Both Program Expense AND Liabilities to Assets Scores

Unscored Information

Total Revenue and Expenses - Data Available

Salary of Key Persons - Data Available

IRS Published Data (Business Master File) - Data Available

Data Sources (IRS Forms 990) - Data Available

Pandemic Response - Data Available

This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.

Special Love Inc. reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:

Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
Staffing
Administrative Capacity

How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:

Where the COVID19 pandemic affected our programming, reducing expenses, it also cut out almost completely our largest fundraising event our Gala. We also have a number of community groups and individuals that hold events on behalf of our organization and those were cancelled completely. The vast unknown when it came to revenue caused some goals and projects to be delayed.

How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:

Special Love has three main programs: free camps, emergency financial assistance and educational scholarships. We could continue the second two programs, giving double what we normally do in a year to families requesting financial assistance in 2020, but camps were transformed. Maintaining good stewards of public health and not gathering, paired with working with an already vulnerable population made any type of in-person program impossible, so programs transitioned online. Special Love staff were able to work quickly and begin small online activities in March 2020 and successfully build on those activities. The team was able to create an entire week of camp online by sending the supplies needed for all activities to each camper and creating a shared online experience through WebEx services.

How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:

Though a challenge transitioning the camp programs online have been very successful. The volunteers who normally come out to our camp programs, which in a traditional year are held 11 out of 12 months in the year, really stepped up to help and was able to really bring the community together. The reach of our programs has also extended beyond Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC to include Utah, Arizonia and Illinois. As much as campers really enjoy canoeing or horseback riding they are also very aware of the relationships they have built and look forward to being there for each other, which we could also provide in a small way virtually.

Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:

The silver lining in virutal is that camp became the kitchen table, patio or even a hospital bed. We will carry the success of the virtual world we created in to future in-person camps allowing those children who are too sick in the hospital to still be a part of camp. This will include activities, video calls and interactions with friends.

Equity Practices (0/7)
The organization did not respond to this question.

Equity Policies and Procedures (2/7)
	We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
	We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
	We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
	We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
	We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
	We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
	We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.

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Special Love Inc.